The Raw Story | Timeline of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto

Timeline of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
Muriel Kane
Published: Friday January 18, 2008

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Early in the day:

Late Morning: Gunmen attack the office of former Prime Minster, Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, killing 4 and injuring 16
Rawalpindi, a military garrison city with a strong army presence, is allegedly under high alert due to threats from Baitullah Mehsud.

The assassination:

Shortly after 5 pm, Benazir Bhutto is shot. A bomb goes off immediately after the shooting. Initial eyewitness reports say there were either two, three, or five shots, followed by a loud explosion.
Bhutto's security advisor says Bhutto was hit once in the neck and once in the chest by an attacker who then blew himself up. A policeman also says the gunman blew himself up as do other witnesses. A bodyguard who was alongside the vehicle says Bhutto was shot in the neck and head.
A leader of Bhutto's party, who was about 10 yards away, describes seeing a thin young man jumping towards the car.
Police and some eyewitness accounts mention a bomber on a bicycle or motorcycle ramming Bhutto's vehicle before detonating his explosives. In some stories, he is described as being the gunman as well.
An Indian source claims there were two gunmen with AK-47's in addition to a bomber.
The New York Times says eyewitnesses described a sniper shooting from a nearby building.
The New York Sun even claims that the initial explosion was a decoy and Bhutto was shot by a team of precision snipers with armor-piercing bullets, two of whom then blew themselves up while being pursued by police.

After the assassination:

An hour after the shooting and bombing, police hose down the scene
Bhutto is declared dead at 6:16 local time, after 35 minutes of attempted resuscitation and open heart massage.
Witnesses at the hospital say Bhutto had gunshot wounds to the chest and neck. One doctor says off the record that the main cause of death was a bullet to the back of Bhutto's neck that damaged her spinal cord and that another bullet went into the back of her shoulder and out through her chest.
Official reports initially say Bhutto died of bullet wounds to the head and chest.
However, Musharraf is told that evening that Bhutto was killed by shrapnel from the bomb which severed her jugular vein.
In a televised address, Musharraf blames unspecified Islamic terrorists for the assassination.
Adn Kronos International, an Italian press agency, claims to have received a phone call from an al Qaeda spokesperson taking responsibility.

Early Friday morning (6 pm on Thursday US time): The FBI and DHS issue a bulletin saying al Qaeda has taken responsibility for the assassination. News accounts differ as to whether this claim is based on Islamist websites or on the Adn Kronos report. The report is unconfirmed.
Morning: The Pakistani Interior Ministry says Bhutto died of a gunshot wound to the neck.
3 pm: Bhutto is buried.
Late afternoon or evening: Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz claims to have evidence of al Qaeda and Taliban involvement. Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema explains that the ISI has intercepted a call in which Baitullah Mehsud congratulated his followers.
Evening: Interior Ministry spokesman Cheema says Bhutto died of a shrapnel wound. The surgeon who pronounced Bhutto dead, Dr Mussadiq Khan, is quoted as saying the cause of death was shrapnel from the bomb blast which hit the right side of her skull.
Evening: Interior Ministry spokesman Cheema claims that Bhutto died from hitting her head on a sunroof latch as she ducked inside her vehicle and was not hit by either bullets or shrapnel. A Bhutto aide calls this a "pack of lies."

The official medical report is released, stating that Mrs. Bhutto died of a skull fracture and that no bullet wounds were found in the head or the neck area.
Video surfaces indicating three gunshots and showing the alleged shooter and a separate bomber. Additional videos indicate clearly that Bhutto fell back into the car before the bomb exploded and thus could not have been hit by shrapnel.
Baitullah Mehsud denies any involvement in the assassination.

A lawyer on the board of Rawalpindi General Hospital, Athar Minallah, tells CNN that doctors there were threatened and did not make the statements attributed to them by the government.

Muriel Kane is Director of Research for Raw Story.